G'day aussiereptilekid, Seems like first time handlers buy children's or spotted's as their first snake and that is sensible, also seems like we all tend to get bitten by our first snakes too. I first got bitten by my female 18 month old blonde spotted yesterday. She's been handled well since hatching, eats well, sheds completely and is normally pretty docile. Anyway, last night she was very active in her enclosure and I thought I'd open it up and bare hand her out for a play. Normally we always hook our snakes out, but she was pretty much half out and I moved in too quickly and she whacked the side of my hand hard. Even though her mouth is small she opened up pretty wide and smacked from the fleshy part near my little finger to my middle finger knuckle. Just a strike bite, no gripping bite and just a spot of blood where her little fangs got me. Didn't hurt, didn't scare me off, just reminded me to use the hook each and every time I handle! LOL, keep handling mate, you'll get whacked again for sure!!!